We’re celebrating eid on Tuesday over here- a heartfelt wish to my Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world. Ramadhan, as always, elapse fleetingly, and I am routinely left wondering whether I have truly made the most of this period of bounty and mercy.
First day of Syawal will be observed within the four walls of our mobster of a lecturer’s room, trembling from fear of being the next victim of her ‘constructive criticism’. Haha. I made her sound quite criminal, but she’s not, really. She just scowls instead of smiles, and does not practice filtration of thoughts, is all. Oh and don’t try to act smart unless you’re sure, or she may start to question your worth as a human being. These trivia swept aside though, she’s a brilliant doctor and teacher. I just wish our Opthalmology classes had ended before Syawal- next cycle is pretty stress-free- so that we can have a proper celebration.
We’re going through quite a chilly autumn now, as opposed to last autumn at this time of year. Green colour still dominates, although the shade gets duller by the day. I’m coveting the sight of my favourite season here- seas of golden leaves with blushes of crimson speckled in between. It’s the best time for choosing to walk back home from classes- the best time for appreciating the delicacy of nature, as the weather is neither too cold nor too hot for comfort. The sun rises later, giving you a chance to get a glimpse of its glory (no similar chance during summer- unless you’re an owl).
I’ve seen so many sunrises here, more than I’ve ever had back in Malaysia. As seasons trade places, so do my sleeping and waking time, and thus, for a variety of reasons, I consider watching the sunrise most opportune during late autumn and early winter, and exam time in summer (when you magically transform into an owl). For the past three years I’ve lived in this side of the building, facing the sunrise. And all this while, I’ve been longing to switch to the other side towards the sunset. For I’ve always thought that sunsets are prettier than sunrises, and the sunsets here are really something to behold of. Imagine a rainbow the size of the sky.
When it comes down to it, I can watch the sunset every day easily as my sister’s room is just on the opposite side- she indulges in the wonder every day. But I don’t. For the most part, it’s due to lack of attentiveness- the sky will almost always have gone dark when I come to notice about time. But also, I love the moment when I suddenly come across the sunset once in a while- the surge of amazement at such an ornate mesh of colours profiling the sky. I doubt the feeling of awe will recede by watching it every day, but occasions do make things appear more special.
In spite of it, however, I still wish I can watch the sunset every day- some things I believe won’t lose their magic even through constant repetition, and sunsets are one of them.
For now though, I’m perfectly content with beautiful sunrises.
It snowed this morning! The first time (if I wasn't too busy snuggling under the covers to notice) was on Sunday though- the day we had our huge eid celebration for all Malaysians currently dwelling in Volgograd. It was neatly sandwiched between our little 3-day holiday to mark the Day of People's Unity/National Unity in Russia, so we had quite the time and space to set things in order for the grand(-ish) occasion. Since we were not lucky enough to have our own Malaysian hall, Malaysian officials and all the jazz, everything had to be done by ourselves and that, in itself, proved to be a blessing in disguise. You get to have your truly own celebration, style it the way you want. You get to work with your comrades, foster solidarity and good festive spirit. You learn to make 135 litres of syrup and lychee. Heheh.
The (supposedly) ongoing plan for the photo album is again put on hold, as I spam my own site with another merry batch of pictures. Great food, great people, great atmosphere- what more could you ask? And oh yeah, it snowed. *grin stupidly*
Us, the food servers
Volgan (as denoted by Azleen- it strongly reminds me of the Vogons in the Hitchhikers' series. Trust me, you wouldn't want to be in the company of a Vogon. LOL) bloggers:- Neemo, Zyryx, me.
My roomies and me
Some of the 2nd-year students
Food is the order of the week. Being a sophomore, you don’t get as many eid invitations as the super seniors, but quite enough to fill you to the brim with sated appetite. I’m loving every bit of it. Hehe. On Saturday, we were invited to the open house of the kakak-kakak 5th year. Briyani, roti jala- the usual gorgeous stuff. Some contemporary Malay movie was screened in the living room so I sought refuge in one of the bedrooms where the earlier shows of Shin Chan was being shown. Much as I despise that immoral punk of a character (I like his pengetua and teachers though ;p), the alternative of a yusry-erra-farid kamil-fasha etc., etc. combo was almost too daunting for words. Do pardon my prejudice, although I think it’s rather justified. Ngehs.
Some of us girls
Istimewa Aidilfitri bersama Shin Chan
*Both pics courtesy of Neemo
Then there was Raja’s birthday celebration where we had a somewhat distinct course of menu than that of the former- spaghetti bolognaise, fried noodles, fries. An honorable mention goes to the exquisite cheese cake- it’s been quite a while since I had one as cheesecakes are a bit expensive here. The entertainment department didn’t fare too bad either- we had Jeremy with his keyboard, dancing his fingers away with a fetching rendition of ‘Selamat hari Raya’ and a few other classics. The negative bit? Being a camera-less photographer’s distressing.
Er, cos we lack some eid pics here, I'm showing an example of a winter wedding gown for marriage aspirants. This was captured somewhere along Prospekt Lenina last Friday, when Sin Ye and I went nuts and decided to walk all the way to the academy from hostel about 25 minutes before class started. We made it before the teacher (he was late, obviously).
The Diwali celebration yesterday was grand, to put it in plain words. Guilty as it sounds, my (almost) sole mission going down was to revel in the glory of the mutton. Tee-hee. We were served with briyani, mutton curry, dhalcha, fried chicken, veggies, payasam, laddoo. I wished my favourite Indian dessert, kesari was included. But still, hats off to the boys and girls who started cooking in the wee hours of the morning- the efforts certainly paid off with the success of the event.
Note the pretty little kolam made by the girls (and guys, perhaps?)
As we went out to capture some moments together, I noticed this magnificent streaks of sunset proliferating the layers of the heavens. Mashaallah.
It completed my kenyang day ;)
Meanwhile today is my classmate, Farah’s birthday. We brought two small cakes to Anatomy class to celebrate with our beloved teacher, Irina Vladimirovna, all along hoping she would cancel our test for today (birthday’s a good excuse, no?). Our plan backfired funnily; except for the birthday girl- she was exempt from the test but no mercy spared for the rest of us. Haha. Still we had a good celebration afterwards- I realise that I’m going to sorely miss Irina after our 2-semester stint with her is over, come January. She’s easily my favourite teacher, and I’m sure many others feel the same way too.
Irina Vladimirovna and Farah
Meredah hujan selepas kelas
And finally, tonight the freshmen threw an open house for the seniors. I'm out of words by now, my mouth is full. Thank you.
Gadis-gadis cedok air
*The rest of the pics are courtesy of Fatin's camera
I wanted to set the alarm at 6 am but I knew better than to trust myself not to hit the snooze button about six times before eventually waking up. So I set it at 5.23 am (it’s a meaningless habit of mine, planting odd numbers) and close enough, my body finally caved in to the persuasive clock after four ‘snoozing’ actions. Thank God for the chipsmore-ish hot water currently in effect, I managed to have a really good mandi sunat hari raya. After putting on a nice baju kurung, I had a bite of the ketupat and rendang ayam which we cooked last night (Actually I just helped blend the chilies and stir the gravy;p) before going down to pinch my sister’s brilliant rendang daging. Unlike me, she is an amazing cook. Her modest reply to compliments would be that she simply hentam-ed and threw every bit of this and that into her dishes, but well, her hentam-ings would always turn out into some scrumptious piece of art. My hentam-ings, on the other hand, would materialise in the form of tongue-flaming (not in an exciting way, not really) sambal sotong, bland briyani (tu pun dah pakai ready-made perencah!), soggy fries. I’m much better in the eating department.
Emulating the tradition of having family breakfast before the prayer, all (well, most) 2nd-year students gathered and gorged on a gorgeous spread of soto, nasi minyak, rendang, etc. So much so that we missed the rombongan to the mosque (via hired mashrutkas) for raya prayers. Erk. There were 15 of us (including a few 1st year students left behind as well) and we decided to cross to the other side of the road to mashrut no. 19’s final stop and hired one car. Upon looking at the long queue of waiting passengers however, we scrapped the plan and called for taxi instead, asking to pick us up in front of the hostel. Thus we went back and waited. And waited. The trip to the mosque takes abut 15 minutes; the prayer was due at 9, and we had about 20 minutes left.
Our guy-in-charge, Shafwan called again but was told that no calls had been made and whether we wanted them to dispatch the cars now. Na-ah, too late. Last resort- intercepting a mashrut going up to their last stop (a 19 or 75), an idea proven to be the easiest and should have been executed from the beginning. Hence we rode on a 75 and luckily managed to reach our destination just on time. The crowd was wonderful (I felt strangely at home and almost cried...the mercy of Allah is ceaseless), albeit myself being sandwiched in the truest sense by a Russian lady on the left and a Mongolian lady on the right. It wasn’t this crammed when I went for Eidul-adha prayer last year, I thought.
After we finished praying and listening to the khutbah, a round of hand-shaking and cheek-brushing followed. This one young woman (of Armenian origin, I would guess) offered us dates. Meanwhile, one mak cik handed round 1 rouble coins as sadaqah and I got one. It reminded of my 1st Syawal last year, when a Russian guy on the street wished me and my friend well and gave 10 roubles to each of us. We did not understand a word he said, with the exception of ‘Musliman’ and ‘Ramadhan’. We need not to. This day… today… is one of those days when even utter strangers can be your family. Everybody wishes you with a smile and you couldn’t resist smiling at everybody yourself. Haha. There’s just such a good vibe around you can’t help but be merry. Even if the devils are back.
Me, Fatin, Farah, Fahida, and Baya in the morning
Rombongan kanak-kanak lambat ke masjid- waiting for mashrut 19/75; the weather was wet and cloudy, though not very cold.
Rombongan pulang dari masjid- the location was in a kampung neighbourhood; walking back to main street gave me sort of a homey feeling, like walking back from the mosque to my grandparents' house in Kampung Selamat. =)
Taking picture with some of the juniors (plus 1 senior). Pak cik Ruski ambil. Gegar la pak cik...
ps: All pictures courtesy of Fatin's camera
with our Ophthalmology lecturer
kuih raya
kuah kacang, a hit with everyone every year (which, unfortunately, I've never fancied)
Fatin and Naj digging out Farah's yummy laksa
Most of 4th year Muslim students with some of our non-Muslim friends
4th year girls
Soto and Laksa at Anis's and Baya's house
